Shopping
by cat-thingymabob
Summary: Asuna is back safe and sound the real world after being in stuck in Sword Art Online... for two months. As a reward for studying so hard to catch up to her classmates, her parent offer to take her shopping.


" _Let's go shopping. We'll buy you anything you like."_

That had been the offer her parents had given her. Truth be told, Asuna hadn't been very attracted by the idea of getting a present. Whether it was that she didn't have much of an interest in getting new clothes or accessories, or the cause for the occasion, that deterred her more, she wasn't sure. Then again, she believed the two were probably intertwined.

Asuna would have preferred to stay home and make up for the homework she had missed, but when she saw her parents' faces as they extended the invitation, she just couldn't refuse. There before her, in the place of a powerful C.E.O. and a stern scholar, stood a worried father and mother, wanting nothing else in their busy lives but to spend the day with their daughter.

She read in every newly formed line on their expressions the worry they had felt when she had been "gone", or sucked into the death game of Sword Art Online. She discerned in the gentle curve of their mouths the relief they had felt when she had been rescued, along with the other survivors, two months after its release. She saw this, and she understood: this wasn't about a silly gift. It was an apology, for not making time to be with their daughter before it was too late.

She could hear them, hear what they were saying. It was, _"we were given another chance, this is our way of making things right"._

And she had been touched, because deep down, Asuna wanted nothing more than to have a close and loving family. This had become _her_ second chance to finally get the thing she always wanted.

So, in this state of both surprise and elation, she had thought, " _Come on, what's the harm in it?"_

It was the same thought she had had before putting on the Nerve gear.

She should have learned her lesson that sometimes the most innocent-seeming things can often cause the most harm.

Instead of a high-end mall, she had asked her parents if they could go to a shopping area outside of Setagaya she had heard was nice. They had appeared reluctant at first, but had quickly complied. She wondered if it was perhaps a little too quickly.

They were walking down a street lined with various window displays. They had been to several shops already, and Asuna had gotten a new skirt. Now, they were in a busier area at almost the peak of traffic. People were bustling by, with little to no regard as to the obstacles that might have obstructed their way, such as, in this case, other people. She and her parents were frequently ran into by passers-by, muttering apologies before continuing on their way. Asuna watched as the careful patience painted on her parents' faces morphed into discomfort and, foreseeably, a tinge of regret.

However, she couldn't find it in herself to feel sorry for them.

The constant chatter of people, the atmosphere of people all around her, each with their own venture in mind, filled her with a mysterious sense of nostalgia. Had she ever had such an experience before? There was no way she had.

She imagined herself dutifully skimming over various articles of expensive clothing in a spacious yet sterile boutique, only the sound of smooth jazz and muffled footsteps interrupted through the maintained quiet. The shopping she was used to. She shook the scene out of her mind and smiled, breathing in the late-winter air.

Suddenly, a multitude of lights caught her eye. She turned, and several meters to the side stood a large Christmas tree. Several men on ladders were removing the decorations. No one even bothered to stop and look at the tree. Christmas had passed over a month ago. She had spent it whilst trapped in-game. She had gotten a gift after returning, of course. Only, standing there, she couldn't recall what it had been.

"Asuna?"

It was her mother, calling to her out of her trance. How long had she been standing there, staring at something no one else cared about anymore? She looked at her mother, and then her father, and then her mother again.

 _A Study Guide_

Right, that's what it had been. She was going to high school soon. Unfortunately, she had missed a lot while she had been trapped in Ain-, in Sword Art Online. It was impossible to know whether or not she'd be able to recover fast enough to get into the high school she wanted. If she failed though, the entire career plan she had had lain before her since birth would be derailed.

Anxiety rose up into her throat. Maybe she shouldn't have come today after all.

She had already made one mistake, and it had been nearly fatal. She had made a promise to herself when she woke up, that this time, there would be no distractions. She would have nothing in the way of achieving her goal.

 _It's not as if we didn't already get what we came here for._

She pushed down the guilty feeling with this thought. Letting a little air out of her lungs, she opened her mouth to ask if they could return home when –

"Whoa!"

–somebody crashed into her from behind.

Despite the obvious triviality of the situation, time still lurched as she fell, slowing for and instant long enough for her to think, "Ah, I'm falling" rather uselessly before toppling onto the frozen concrete.

"Onii-chan!"

It was a girl's voice calling out from slightly behind her, and likely calling to her brother – the one awkwardly collapsed on top of her.

Instinctually, she moved twisted underneath to push him off with one hand as he muttered an embarrassed apology.

"A-ah… Very sorry miss – "

The familiar sound waves hit her brain like a wall. She didn't have time to wonder who that voice belonged to, however, because the owner's weighted lifted itself from off her body, giving her a chance to peer up at him.

 _Kirito-kun!_

She thought it was just her eyes playing tricks on her, but even after blinking her eyes hard, it was undeniable, that hair and those eyes definitely belonged to her short-term partner from SAO.

But… why was he here? She wasn't in SAO anymore. It had almost been a month since she had been released, escaping from the game's iron clutches.

It took her a disturbingly long amount of time to realise that what she was seeing was the real-life Kirito sitting in front of her, mirroring her blank surprise.

The two of them stared at each other in a daze until the girl who had called out to him, his sister from the sound of things, interrupted.

"Onii-chan! I told you the ice was slippery, genius!" she said, fear and worry barely masked by sarcasm. She pouted, "You could listen to me for once, you know!"

It took another second for him to hear her. His wide eyes lingered on her before turning to reply. That much was clear, he recognised her, and was as freaked out as she was.

"Y-yeah Sugu, sorry. I didn't think it would be this bad. Honest." He stood up slowly. This movement sprang her parents into action, and they began scolding and warning him against the dangers of not watching where you step, resulting in a long stream of apologies from both siblings.

Still not quite over the ordeal, she sat there on the icy ground, feeling her bottom and hands go numb through the fabric of her clothing. Suddenly, she was very cold. The kind of cold that seeps deep into your bones.

 _I shouldn't have come here._

She wanted to escape from this situation. It was too abnormal, too unexpected, for her to know how to deal with it. Her muscles and her brain felt like mush, leaving her sitting numb and alone on the sidewalk.

"-suna~… Asuna!"

The sound of her mother's voice brought her back to reality. Taking this as an opportunity, she got up. She shivered. The chill still hadn't left her body.

She lifted herself up. Slowly, unsteadily. Her arms and legs wobbled on the way, every movement feeling awkward and clumsy. She could barely hear anything over the thumping blood in her ears. She kept her face downturned and staring at the icy patch a few feet ahead of her. The shattered bits were strewn in a halo around a small empty center.

 _That's where he slipped._

She lifted her face to look at him. He was staring at her again. They both quickly averted their eyes, but Asuna's returned after a moment, her curiosity getting the better of her.

It was weird to see him like this. In her mind, Kirito was always associated with swords and armor and monsters. Seeing him here in simple winter clothes, not a weapon in sight, looking so… _ordinary._ It was as if someone had cut his face out of a fantasy drawing and pasted him here, in reality.

She kept staring at him, as if somehow he would disappear if she looked hard enough. He glanced back nervously. Their eyes met for a second before his shifted down to her leg. She followed his gaze to her left knee, where a thin trail of blood trickled down, staining her white sock with a blotch of red.

 _I'm bleeding._

Her father echoed that thought not a moment after.

They went home after that. Her parents had been hasty to leave once they realized she had gotten hurt. Not that it was a big deal. She just wished they would stop treating her like she would shatter at the slightest impact. She had only been gone for two months. How much could such a short amount of time change anyway?

When Asuna went up to her room, she placed the shopping bad on the floor and collapsed onto her bed with a sigh. Against her will, her mind automatically drifted to that incident in the afternoon.

Who'd have thought she would encounter something so strange? Even worse was how shaken up she had been afterwards. Sure, she fell and scraped her knee, but that wasn't nearly enough to put her into shock, was it? Maybe she _was_ still delicate from her time in SAO.

She hadn't been stuck in the deathly videogame Sword Art Online for very long, and she hadn't seen anything particularly traumatizing. Then again, just the terror of being trapped and the threat of death would be enough to damage a person, right? Not to mention that she had faced death several times, and watched as comrades fell at her side. It would take her a while to heal from such experiences, as any sane person would. There was nothing to worry about.

She would catch up on her schoolwork, return to her high-achieving standard, and forget everything about that time of her life. This was what she had promised herself she would do if she ever escaped from that virtual prison. Now that she was free, that goal was so close to her grasp she could practically taste it. She couldn't allow herself to fail again.

 _But everything is so different now_ , she thought with another sigh.

She lifted her upper body onto her forearms, wondering where such an absurd thought had come from. _Nothing_ was different. Two months was all it had been. Even the weather wasn't all that different from when she had been trapped. Over that short period of time, though it hadn't exactly felt that way to her, her house, her family, her school, her friends, everything in her life that made Asuna who she was remained unchanged.

 _Exactly_ , she hummed with slight satisfaction. _Nothing has changed, so there's no reason I can't return to this this life as if nothing has happened. Because nothing_ _ **has**_.

As if to prove her point, Asuna pushed herself off the bed to take out the gift her parents had bought her this afternoon. It was a red skirt, with pleats similar to her uniform's, only more casual. It was rather plain compared to Asuna's usual clothes, and her mother had let her reservations show, but the sight of it had given her a strong sense of déjà-vu for some reason, grabbing her attention. And besides, it was pretty.

Now Asuna held it out in front of her, forgetting her original plan to put it away. She felt its presence tug at her memory, just beyond reach. She hadn't worn anything particularly like it, as far as she knew. It did resemble her uniform, but she didn't think that was the source of this strange feeling settled in her chest.

She turned and studied her reflection in the mirror, skirt held at the waist.

With a small gasp, the soft fabric fell crumpled on the wooden floor.

 _Once upon a time, in a world that existed for a fleetingly short amount of time, a girl wore a skirt of similar make. Only, here, it was not made of cotton or polyester, but studded leather, suitable for combat. Red, of course, had been her favourite colour. That had remained true no matter what world she found herself in._

The sudden rush of memory fluttered away as quickly as it came, raising goose bumps on her skin.

The skirt was the puzzle piece needed for her to finally understand… no, that wasn't it. Asuna had always understood, she had just chosen to ignore the truth all this time.

It had pulled loose the supporting piece of a Jenga game, toppling over its feigned stability and order and laying in ruthless disarray at her feet. A recognizable chaos. She couldn't pretend anymore.

That the busy city streets she had visited today, similar to the towns in that place…

That the Christmas tree that had brought back memories of the holiday spent there…

That the unexpected meeting with her old partner that had been at her side for half of her time there…

Had triggered impossible emotions - nostalgia, happiness, and even… _yearning_.

There was no way. She shook her head, unable to believe it. No, she didn't _want_ to believe it. It was completely inconceivable that she, Asuna, the same girl that had fought hard day after day to ensure her return to the real world, to her real life, would want to go back to that prison; impossible that she should feel a sense of loss remembering what she had left behind. And yet, that actuality stood before her, as clear and precise as her reflection in the mirror.

Now that she faced it, she was at a loss. That floating castle was gone, the servers crashed without a single one remaining. She could never hope to return to that place, and even if she could, how would she justify it to her family, that had worried terribly for her in the months she had gone?

 _There is no way for things to return to how they were before_. She realized this, and she accepted it.

She had been wrong to say nothing had changed. Something _had_ changed, just not where she could see it. Asuna was not the same girl as she had been before the death game. Something in her was unmistakeably altered.

 _Nothing will ever be the same_. She acknowledged this with a deep sadness.

Asuna sat down once again on her bed, staring blankly at the opposite wall.

"Nothing will ever be the same," she repeated aloud. If so, then what should she do? She could no longer pretend this wasn't true, but how could she return to a life that no longer felt like hers?

As though looking for an answer, Asuna turned her head to peer out the window at the darkening sky. Eventually, the light of the stars began to peek out. She only regained awareness of the world when she thought she saw a flash of light at the corner of her vision.

It was too quick to be certain, it could have been nothing, but for a moment, a single fleeting moment, Asuna thought she saw a shooting star.


End file.
